We Three Kings

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.

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Matthew 2:5–6 NIV

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

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Matthew 2:1–12 NIV

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Matthew 2:7–8 NIV

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

Matthew 2:6–7 NIV

“ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

matt 2

Matthew 2:9–10 NIV

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

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Matthew 2:11–12 NIV

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

1. Trust God for the Right Time

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do we know the year that Christ was born?

A comet in 5 B.C.

A conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (7-6 B.C.)

Other celestial events might have been in mind that we aren’t aware of.

It is likely that the interplay of these planets pointed to a king or a coronation in which there would be a King of the Jews who would be born in Israel.

From Tacitus we learn that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect in charge of Judaea (AD26-36) and Tiberius was emperor (AD14-37) – reports that fit with the timeframe of the gospels.

We can put Christ’s birth

do we know the day that Christ was born?

There were Shepherds in their fields - that doesn’t normally happen in December. It could be in the Spring or possibly the fall.

As I looked into what the Church Fathers wrote in the 4th century there doesn’t even then have a lot of unanimity.

It just so happens that on the twenty-fifth of December in the Roman Empire there was a pagan holiday that was linked to mystery religions; the pagans celebrated their festival on December 25. (This began in 354 A.D.) The Christians didn’t want to participate in that, and so they said, “While everybody else is celebrating this pagan thing, we’re going to have our own celebration. We’re going to celebrate the thing that’s most important in our lives, the incarnation of God, the birth of Jesus Christ. So this is going to be a time of joyous festivities, of celebration and worship of our God and King.” (Ligionier Ministries - R. C. Sproul, Dec 23,. 2016)

Another view is that the Christians didn’t decide to celebrate, but the Roman emperor decreed that the Christians celebrate on this day so that there would be similar celebrations and no one would identify Christians or the Sun worshippers as hostile to one another.

Chrysostum (writing in the late 300’s A.D.)

Christmas first celebrated on Dec 25 in Rome in 336 A.D.

Zacharias meets an angel in the Holy of Holies at the Feast of Tabernacles in late September. ()

Elizabeth becomes pregnant.

Six months later (late March) an angel visits Mary () and tells her that she will bear a child. And to visit Elizabeth who is six months pregnant.

Nine months later (late December) Mary gives birth to Jesus.

(note: the Eastern Church still celebrates in early January.)

Does it matter that we know the day?

Confused yet? Me too.

So how many times have you been confused when in the middle of a crisis? Almost all of the time.

Where do we go? We go to bedrock. We go to the things that do not move. Not everything has to line up. Not everything is a die-for issue. We don’t have to believe in a December 25 birthday to be a follower of Christ.

Romans 5:6 NIV

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

I have many people who have told me of their decision to follow Christ. Many of them can’t tell me the day that they made that decision. I’m one of them. Does that mean that I’m not a Christian? OF course not.

We don’t know with certainty the day that Jesus was born. Does that make him not the Messiah? Of course not.

For those of you who are going through hardships right now. Does God know your need? Yes. Does God know when he will bring relief? Yes. Will God accomplish what he needs accomplished? Yes.

Friends, God does not have to trust us with the times to accomplish his purposes. We need to know whom to trust more than when we can expect him to show up.

2. Trust God for the Right People

Magi? Kings? Wise Men?

So who were these people? They were probably associated with Royalty. Perhaps from Media or Persia. It is possible that they were Jews or people who studied the Jewish literature from their time in captivity.

We know that they arrived at least 8 days and up to two years after the birth of Christ.

8 days - Joseph and Mary offered a dove at his dedication

Herod ordered babies 2 and under from Bethlehem to be killed.

What would they have known?

Numbers 24:17 NIV

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

Micah 5:2 NIV

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Hosea 11:1 NIV

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Were there three? Who knows. It seems likely. But they would not have traveled alone. Their entrance into Jerusalem would have made a splash.

The main point that Matthew seems to be making is that the people who would most likely worship Jesus chose to eliminate him from contention to the throne. The people from the “Nations” were actually the ones who got it right.

Isn’t that amazing? Sometimes the last ones we think of are the very people that God will use.

My friend Mark was on a transplant list for a new liver. One day they rushed to the hospital with word that there was a donation match. But on arriving they were told that it was too damaged to be of any good. Somehow a Swiss physician was in town to train U of M medical staff about liver transplants. She was one of only 2-3 people in the world who would be able to repair the liver and then transplant it into Mark.

Did Mark know this? Was it in God’s plan?

We don’t have to know.

You know some of the story of my own daughter. She is an acknowledged atheist. She has suffered terribly by people who claim the name of Christ. Frankly, it is not surprising to me that she has turned away from them and the Jesus that they know.

I know that there is nothing that I can do to persuade her to come back to Christ. And I’m OK with that. Someone somewhere and some time will love her in such a way that she returns.

3. Trust God because he experienced humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.

I have taken it for granted that Jesus of Nazareth existed. Some writers feel a need to justify this assumption at length against people who try from time to time to deny it. It would be easier, frankly, to believe that Tiberius Caesar, Jesus’ contemporary, was a figment of the imagination than to believe that there never was such a person as Jesus. – N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Fortress, 1996)

“Jesus was a great moral teacher,” (Richard Dawkins)

-Richard Dawkins

Early Histories

The Jews of Jesus day never doubted his existence, they doubted that he was the Messiah.

The New Testament authors wrote about his existence

The Jewish historian Flavius (96 AD)

The Roman historians Pliny and Tacitus (early 2nd century)

What will you learn?

As a child...

He had a normal gestation

He was born like every other child

He had genetic traits of his ancestors (yet without sin)

He had a written genealogy

He grew up like other children

Luke 2:52 NIV

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

As an adult...

Christian Theology The Biblical Evidence

Thus he experienced hunger when he fasted (Matt. 4:2). He also experienced thirst (John 19:28). In addition, he experienced fatigue when he traveled (John 4:6), and presumably on many other occasions as well. Thus, he was justifiably dismayed when his disciples fell asleep while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, for he experienced the same type of weariness they did. He was asking of them nothing that he did not require of himself (Matt. 26:36, 40–41).

Matthew 4:2 NIV

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

John 19:28 NIV

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

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John 4:6 NIV

Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

He wept when meeting the family of Lazarus. He groaned and agonized in the garden of Gethsemane

Concluding Thoughts

Know that Jesus experienced emotional and physical things that you and I face

What will you learn?

Hebrews 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 4:15–16 NIV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:1–4 NIV

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”

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